So, can we count on you to avoid including them in the inflated figures of
Roman Catholic membership?
This is what amazes me about this article..1st it does not speak about Christ in its title.or salvation, it speaks to CULTURAL Catholicism.
The truth is the vast majority of Catholics are culturally Catholic.. not observant or confessing Catholic..
Like me and many other people born to a Catholic family or into a " Catholic country"
That is exactly how the Catholic church has built its membership numbers ..by family or national tradition. When I left the church, the first thing my father said to me was not concern over my soul..but "we have always been a Catholic family"
Tradition is not only the basis of their doctrine, it is the basis of their membership.
Cultural Catholics are baptized as infants, make their "first confession/ communion" and then attend services long enough to get permission to marry at the church.. and once again to get their children baptized and then start the cultural cycle over again
The second thing that interested me was the idea that it is important to get these "cultural Catholics" to come to church.. These are not believing people or they have been saved and joined another church ,
In the first case they have built their own god and just want to get on with their life.. when they die they will call a priest and confess their sins and have the final mass they attend said for their soul .
If they have joined another church they are no longer cultural Catholics.
The second thing that surprised me was the admission that only 15% of Catholics actually attend church on Sundays ... and we all know that 15% is dying off..
That is surprising because that 15% is the actual number of Catholics...not the inflated number we so often see.. truth is always freeing